Ohanami, oh my!

It's springtime in Japan, and that means cherry blossoms! Yesterday, I went to my very first ohanami, or cherry blossom viewing party. It's a tradition in Japan to go with your family, friends, and coworkers to a park and set up a picnic spot under cherry blossoms... it's very popular, so much so that our spot occasioned a stakeout from about 7am; the actual event was scheduled for noon. It's a sort of potluck-picnic; everyone brings a snack to share, plus alcohol, and you get drunk and chat to people and consume delicious things all afternoon.

Today is beautiful and sunny, with gorgeous warm weather; I took a bike ride to my grocery store, since my 105-yen Lawson's mysteriously closed last week. I discovered, much to my delight, that my river is lined with sakura on the block near my grocery store, so of course I took some pictures.

Good manners: turn your phone to "manner mode" while you're on the subway, Mom says! The creepy dude in the ad underneath has been grinning maniacally at me since I got here last May. HE NEVER GOES AWAY.

Signage

I have once again amassed a large amount of amusing signs that I've come across... let's take a gander!

GET THAT BABY

Ikebana.

I realize I've been slacking with updates lately, and I apologize - life here has been hectic, to say the least.

 This is Crystal Square, the hub of the big underground mall near where I work - it stretches out in a wheel-pattern underneath the streets. Lately, it's been surrounded by ikebana - traditional Japanese flower arrangements. I really liked this one; I can see the art of flower arranging now, as just looking at this evokes an entire nature scene in my mind. It's like a microcosm of Japanese flora in the spring, and it's lovely.

I survived. Many have not.

I am in fact still alive after Friday's earthquake. In Nagoya, we experienced a 4.5 earthquake, but no damage was done to structures or people - just a lot of shaking and scariness. I was teaching at the time, on the 6th floor of a downtown office building, in a classroom with floor-to-ceiling windows. Needless to say, classes were interrupted on multiple occasions to hurry away from the windows, just in case. We experienced several hours of aftershocks as well, and were scheduled for a tsunami, but it didn't make it here.

It goes without saying that I and all of Nagoya have been and continue to be monstrously lucky. The north of Japan, however, experienced a localized apocalypse, and with a looming nuclear disaster at the Daiichi facility, they need all the help they can get. If you can, please donate some time, money, blood, or supplies to help those in need - every little bit helps. Here is a link to some organizations where you can help. Please continue to pray for and think about everyone in Japan as the death toll mounts.

It snowed on Friday! It didn't stay on the ground for very long, but it was rather magical, I think.

Birthday!

Spring comes to Nagoya

I had the weirdest last day of being 23, let me tell you. It's counselling week at my school again, which means no regular classes, which means that the schedule gave the day a bit of a surreal quality already. I noticed one of my coworkers' new tie right off the bat, but didn't cotton on to my other coworker's haircut until late that evening. One of my students came and gave me gifts, though!